Matt Damon is a grief-stricken widower and father of two looking for a sea change when he purchases a run-down zoo on the outskirts of LA. He decides that trying to get it up and running again will be just the ticket for family bonding, but his teenage son resents him for being taken so far from his schoolmates and the suspicious staff, headed by the improbably glamorous Scarlett Johansson, are not easy to win over.

Writer-director Cameron Crowe is exploring familiar terrain here -- unlikely friendships that slowly consolidate around the pursuit of a common goal. The feel-good tone seems a little more arbitrary than it did in Jerry Maguire or Almost Famous however -- perhaps because there isn’t really a well defined antagonist. None of our hero’s potential obstacles, from his teenage son (whom he keeps calling 'man'), to the nasty zoo inspector (John Michael Higgins) to his sceptical brother (Thomas Haden Church) are really problem enough to threaten the whole enterprise. That said, there is an audience for this, and it’s an audience who will overlook the lack of tension for the appeal of cute animals, sassy but family friendly comedy, and the romantic payoff of Johansson and Damon making eyes at each other.